Mirrors
by Aelan Greenleaf
Summary: When Enterprise retrieves a damaged escape pod from the edges of an ion storm, no one expected what they'd find inside. (Chapter Six up.)
1. Chapter One

A/N: This is an Alternate Universe, which is set sometime in Season Three after Enterprise has returned to Earth and has presumably started their new mission.

The bridge was very quiet tonight, more so than other nights. The delta shift was restless with their new assignment, as they had all been beta shift before they came back to Earth. Everyone was still adjusting: Ensign Mr'imba looked like she was going to fall asleep at communications; James Willis was reconfiguring all the navigational arrays by hand in an effort to keep himself occupied, and Katie Ians was humming to herself at Tactical.

Elise Carson sighed to herself at Sciences. There was nothing more than debris from comet trails, a couple of small meteorites and space dust on her long range sensors, which she was currently watching. Her eyes were feeling heavy, and it was a struggle to keep them open. "Your shift's almost over, Carson." she mumbled softly to herself, "Just two more hours."

A sudden beep from her console jerked her out of her semi-conscious state, and she jumped out of her seat a bit, startling Katie.

"Are you okay?" the tactical ensign asked her.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." Elise answered sheepishly, sending Katie a small, embarrassed smile. She turned her attention back down to her console, and the small red light that was blinking before her. She checked the long range sensors, and found to her surprise a small dot, that could only be a minimal range escape pod floating in close to Enterprise. She calculated its point of origin, and found that it had come from the direction of a powerful ion storm that Enterprise had changed course to avoid.

"Hey James," she called out, "I've got an unidentified craft coming in from the port side, from that ion storm we changed course for earlier."

"Life signs?" James asked, as he was the ranking officer on deck.

Elise ran the scan. "Two, both extremely faint."

"Notify the captain." James commanded to Talisa Mr'imba. She nodded back, and summoned alpha shift to the bridge.

----

"Report." asked Captain Jonathon Archer as he entered the bridge. Commander Tucker and Sub-Commander T'Pol trailed him, the former looking very groggy. They took their seats at their respective stations, and relieved their delta shift counterparts.

"There is a small escape pod approaching from our port side, about 400 000 km out. Two life signs, very faint. I do not recognize the markings on the ship, Captain." responded T'Pol.

The captain was quiet a moment, and then gave the order to retrieve the ship. "Have Dr. Phlox and a medical team meet me in the launch bay. T'Pol, Malcolm, you're with me. Trip, you've got the bridge."

As the three left the bridge, Trip dropped into his seat with a sigh and wished he was back in bed.

-----

When they reached the launch bay, Enterprise had already pulled the smaller craft into its hold. Malcolm and two other security officers cautiously approached the ship, which was so small that it seemed to only have room for barely one person. The door to the pod opened slowly, and only half-way. The inside of the tiny capsule was almost black with smoke, and Archer could barely see a single figure tumble out and fall to the floor.

Phlox rushed forwards, and Malcolm kept his phaser trained on the now apparent female, who lay inert on the ground. Her face was black with smoke, and her long hair was singed at the edges. Her arms gripped a small bundle tightly, and Phlox struggled to get to her.

She coughed a few times, and Archer remarked with sadness that she was dying. He still couldn't see her very clearly, and knelt down to be next to her. With surprise, he noticed the point edges of her ears and realized that she was a Vulcan.

Suddenly, she grabbed onto his arm with her free hand, and pulled him down near to her face. he was hit with a wave of recognition, something that told him that he knew her, somehow.

"Take her." she whispered once, as she shoved the bundle towards him. She stared straight into his eyes one last time, then dropped back down to the floor with the finality of death.

Phlox sighed painfully beside him, and closed the young Vulcan's eyes. Archer gazed down into the bundle he held in his arms, and stared right into the bright blue eyes of a baby girl.

This is the teaser chapter for my new story. I will hopefully have the next chapter up tomorrow, if all goes well. If you've read anything by me before, I have a real problem with being consistent with updating, but I hope that this time it will be better.


	2. Chapter Two

T'Pol watched in silence as the figure tumbled out of the ship through the smoke and onto the ground. Phlox rushed forwards to help the ailing figure, who, as the smoke dissipated, was identified as a young woman.

She moved forwards to help the Captain and Phlox, but was hit with a wave of intense recognition as she watched the woman on the ground take her final breaths. T'Pol barely noticed the child that Captain Archer held within his arms; she was focused on the pointed ears of the now deceased woman.

Unconsciously, she reached up and touched the tip of her own ear, and knelt down beside the woman. The features were all so familiar, it was like looking at...

A mirror.

Startled, T'Pol jerked back and fell against the cold floor of the launch bay. Phlox looked over with concern, and Lieutenant Reed quickly bent down beside her.

"Are you alright, Sub-Commander?" he asked, uneasiness apparent in his eyes.

"I..." she whispered softly, and looked to the Doctor.

"I see it too." he responded gravely. "Let's get her, and the child, to sickbay."

-----

Sickbay was cold, and T'Pol shivered as she stood by the make-shift cradle for the baby. Captain Archer was silent beside her, as they awaited Phlox to finish his tests on both the child and her late mother. T'Pol's mind was spinning as she could not shake the feeling that somehow that Vulcan woman was her. A clone, perhaps? She dismissed that idea in an instant; cloning had been banned in conjunction with the Genetic Wars on Earth and few other cultures had the capacity or need for cloning.

What could it be then? Was it just a coincidence, a strange genetic fluke that caused herself and the other woman to look so alike?

Phlox emerged from his small lab then, and she set aside her thoughts for the moment. Captain Archer straightened beside her, as they both anxiously awaited for the doctor to speak.

"I have finished my tests on both the child and her mother, and have found several interesting things," the doctor commenced, "The woman we found appears to share the exact same DNA and genetic markers as you, T'Pol."

Captain Archer eyes bulged out in surprise. "What... how is this possible."

"Well, although this woman is in essence T'Pol, she is missing several key nutrients that are found in every sentient being. Her daughter is missing the same nutrients as well. I have to conclude that, after exhausting every other avenue, she is not from our universe. I believe that she is from the same universe that we visited briefly a year and a half ago."

"How could that be?" asked T'Pol, after a moment, "The anomaly that permitted us through could not have been displaced here."

"Science is your field, Sub-Commander, not mine. I can only confirm to you that there are now somehow two T'Pols, and that your counterpart is now deceased. Which, brings me to my second patient."

The doctor walked over to the small cradle he had constructed from a small incubator and filled with blankets. The girl, who had downy black hair and blue eyes, was staring up silently at them from her bed.

"She is only half-Vulcan, and since it was 'your' child, T'Pol, I ran her human genetic markers through our database, and sure enough, I found a match. She appears to be the child of your counterpart and Commander Tucker's counterpart."

T'Pol steadied herself mentally as she considered what Phlox had just said. This was the second instance in less than six months that she had met one of her and Commander Tucker's supposed 'offspring'. This was indeed a strange coincidence.

While she had been thinking, Captain Archer and Phlox had continued their conversation about what to do with their new addition to the crew.

"I will care for her." T'Pol interrupted abruptly.

Both men turned to face her. "Are you certain, T'Pol?" asked the captain.

"Yes. She will at least be able to recognize a familiar face. Is there anything else, doctor?"

The Denobulan shook his head once, and then bid goodbye to his two visitors. Captain Archer took his leave as well, and T'Pol found herself alone with her new 'daughter'. Slowly she looked down, and found herself looking straight down into eerily familiar blue eyes.

(reference to"Daedalus" and "Daedalus' Children" by Dave Stern)


	3. Chapter Three

Wow! Thanks for all the reviews, everyone! I'm glad you're liking the story!

Caitlin: Sadly, my knowledge of chemisty is very limited; I've only started Chemistry 20 AP and I'm in French immersion, so I am quite regrettably going to have to resort to the old "pull some science words together and explain stuff" trick. That is, of course, if you would like to help me?

Commander Charles Tucker III was literally falling asleep at his post. He had barely got four hours of sleep when he had been abruptly woken up, placed in the command chair and left to wonder where the heck his Captain and fellow officers had gone. Since then, the rest of alpha shift had been replaced once more by delta shift, and he was just awaiting his Captain's orders to return to his comfy, cozy, warm be-

"Trip." a voice behind him shook Trip right out of his reverie and sent him scrambling to his feet. He turned to find Captain Archer sanding before him. "You're relieved. Go get some sleep."

"Can do!" the Southerner replied with relief, following his captain and friend into the turbolift. Once the doors had closed behind them, and the bridge disappeared from view, Trip felt the need to ask the questions that had been running through his mind since they had picked up that small escape pod.

"Was there anyone aboard that ship, Cap'n?" he asked.

A strange look came over his friend's face, and suddenly he reached out and hit the emergency stop button. The lift shuddered to a stop, and Trip shot an incredulous look towards Archer. "What are you doing?"

Archer sighed. "Look, Trip, the... persons aboard that ship concern you directly. So give me a few minutes and I'll explain it all to you."

-------

T'Pol was standing in her quarters, slowly rocking back and forth the small child in her arms, when the door chime sounded.

"Come in." she called out, as softly as she could.

Her heart jumped slightly when Commander Tucker walked into the room. He wore a strange expression, one of awe crossed with anger, as he strode forward and looked to the bundle in her arms.

"Is this..."

She nodded. "She is sleeping. Would you like to hold her?"

"Um... no, not right now. This is all still kind of weird to me."

"I understand." she replied, then turning and crossing over to the cradle that Dr. Phlox had constructed. She placed the sleeping child inside of it, then returned to where the seemingly pensive and awestruck commander was still standing.

"So..." he started, after a moment of silence, "What exactly is going to happen?"

"I will care for her, for the time being at least."

He looked slightly confused. "Is she staying here? Is there anyway that we can send her back?"

"Back to where?" T'Pol replied, tones of amusement creeping into her voice, "To the other universe? We have no means of doing so, Commander."

"Trip."

"What?"

His cheeks flushed softly, and his gaze shifted to the side for a moment. "You can call me Trip. I, uh, figure if we have a kid together you could at least call me by my first name."

An arched eyebrow met his statement. "It is our counterparts, not us, that have a 'kid' together, Comman-Trip."

"Yeah... I guess so. But, doesn't that pretty much her our daughter? I mean, it's not like we did 'it' or anything, well, we did but-"

"You are blabbering, Trip."

He smiled, embarrassed. "I know. I'm just... this is really quite a strange coincidence. I mean, first Lorian and now...?"

"She does not have a name, as far as I could determine. I was calling her Aisha for now."

"Aisha... that's nice." Trip ran the name over his tongue. "Does it mean anything specific?"

"Not really." she answered, evading intrusion into the delicate name she had decided to use. "Was there anything else, Comman..Trip?"

"Do you, uh, mind if I hold her now?"

"Not at all."

He crossed over to the other side of T'Pol's quarters, and peered down into the cradle that held his counterpart's child. Slowly, and deliberately he picked her up and lifted her into his arms. He watched with what T'Pol determined to be utter awe on his face as the baby nestled into the crook of his arm and snuggled her face into his front side. He gently took one finger and ran it down the tip of her ear, unaware that T'Pol had done almost the same thing only a few hours ago.

"She's beautiful." he whispered softly, to himself. He held her for another moment, then realized what exactly he was doing. He quickly placed her down into her cradle, and moved back towards the door.

"Um, thanks for this, T'Pol. I'm gonna go and get some sleep, but if you need any help, I'll be back in a flash, okay?"

"It is unlikely that I will require your help, but the offer is appreciated. Goodnight, Trip."

"Night, T'Pol... and Aisha." With the utterance of the last name, he smiled and left her quarters. T'Pol checked upon the young girl once more, then too decided to get some more sleep.


	4. Chapter Four

**Sorry for the short chapters. Time is a commodity for me, but I think that a little bit of something is better than none at all! :)**

The soft murmur of conversation could be heard from outside the debriefing room as T'Pol approached it. She was uncharacteristically unnerved as she hesitated before the door of the small conference room. Her hand shook softly, and she tried to quell it. The trellium D was still sending after-shocks throughout her, even though her addiction was almost completed conquered. She willed herself to be composed, and entered the room.

She was the last to arrive. Commander Tucker and Captain Archer were silent as they awaited her, and gradually Lieutenant Reed and Ensigns Mayweather and Hoshi finished their impromptu conversation. They all awaited Captain Archer to speak.

He stood from his chair, and looked to each one of his officers. "I am sure that you are all aware that approximately seven hours ago we rescued a small ship from the edges of the massive ion storm we were passing. What you do not know is who we pulled out from the escape pod we found.

"We found a young Vulcan female aboard, and her infant daughter. The woman died within minutes of coming aboard, but her daughter is in good health. However, we have discovered that these two people are from the 'alternate universe' that we had visited for a short time almost a year and a half ago. The young woman was T'Pol's counterpart from that reality, and her child was that of T'Pol's and Commander Tucker's counterparts."

At that, Malcolm shot Trip an inquisitive look, and Trip waved him off. He didn't need any comments from Malcolm right now. They both turned their attention back to the Captain.

"Both Dr. Phlox and T'Pol are caring for the girl now, whose new name is Aisha, as I am informed. What I need from you now is any ideas or theories you might have about how to get Aisha back to her own universe. As I'm sure all you remember, the chemical imbalance caused by the travel between our two universes can cause some life-threatening situations."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and T'Pol saw Hoshi pale a bit. The ensign had become violently ill during their time in the alternate universe, and she knew that no one would want such a young child to suffer the same thing.

Commander Tucker suggested recreating the elements of the ion storm that caused the rift in between the universes in the first place, but it was deemed impossible since they were only one small ship. Several other theories and propositions were discussed, but none really seemed feasible.

Finally, after about an hour of discussion, T'Pol herself suggested modifying one of their emergency beacons to withstand the outer edges of the ion storm long enough to make its way to the reality rift.

"I estimate that with both Lieutenant Reed and myself working on this, it should take us approximately two days to complete the modifications."

The Captain nodded. "Let's get to it then. Dismissed."

As the other officers rose to leave the room, Commander Tucker took T'Pol aside. "How long is Phlox taking care of Aisha for?" he asked softly, as the others filed out of the room.

"As long as needed, he assured me. However, he did ask if I would take care of her for the evening as he is scheduled for a minor surgical operation."

"Let me take care of her. It's important that you finish those modifications so that we can send her back." Trip said, concern in his eyes.

T'Pol raised one of her eyebrows. His sudden emotional concern for the young girl was strange, but that could be attributed to her connection with him. "Will you be alright?" she asked, not sure if the Commander had any experience with children.

He broke into a wide grin. "I'll be fine. We'll have some fun!"

"Very well. Thank you, Commander."

"You're welcome, T'Pol."


	5. Chapter Five

****

Sorry for the delay! Here's the next chapter!

Trip felt slightly nervous as he walked to T'Pol's quarters to collect his young charge. He had cared for babies before; when Lizzie was little he'd changed her and fed her, and he'd also watched his nephews and niece on more than one occasion. This was different though, this little girl was almost his daughter. Every time he looked into her eyes, eyes that looked similar to the ones he saw in the mirror each day, he would get a little shiver down his spine and think, for a moment, of things that could have been. He suspected that T'Pol felt the same way.

T'Pol. Since the arrival of Aisha, the feelings that he had for her had all come rushing back from where he'd so carefully repressed them. He'd never felt these feelings before, sentiments of love and passion that were only aroused when she was around. Those feelings went deep, and he was slightly reluctant to admit that he may be in love with her.

He looked up in surprise to notice that while he'd been thinking, he'd reached his destination. He rang the door chime once, and after a moment the door swished open to reveal the Vulcan of his heart.

"Thank you very much for your assistance Commander." she said, once he had entered. "Lieutenant Reed is anxious to start our modifications."

"You're welcome."

"Have you cared for children before?" she asked, staring him in the eyes.

"Yep. My brother's got three kids, and I've watched them all before for a couple of weekends. Plus, I helped take care of Lizzie when she was a baby." A pang of hurt resounded through him as he thought of his baby sister, but he quickly recovered.

T'Pol, however, noticed, but said nothing. "I will return as soon as possible. The lieutenant and I are hoping to establish how the vessel came through to this universe so that we can dispatch the beacon."

"Good luck." Trip wished her, as she gathered her PADDs and left the room.

He stood still for a moment, then moved forwards and peered down into the small crib. Two blue orbs stared up at him, as the little girl stayed quiet. He met her stare for am minute, then broke into a wide grin and lifted her up out of the crib.

He sat her onto his lap, and tickled her underneath her chin, causing the child to giggle and smile. he laughed with her, and opened one of the two books he had brought with him from Earth. One was his youngest nephew's book, that he had give to his Uncle Charlie 'to read in case he got bored' and the other was Lizzie's favourite from when she had been little.

Trip read them both to Aisha, as she stared at all the pictures and laughed when Trip would tickle her and point to the animals in the books. She was a very quiet child, compared to the others he had spent time with before. He wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that she was part Vulcan.

He played peek-a-boo with her, and chased her about the room as she crawled about. After about an hour and a half, both chaser and chased were tired out. Aisha's eyes began to droop, and Trip placed her back into her crib gently.

"Night." he said softly to her, as her eyes drifted close. He sat on T'Pol's bed, unsure of what to do now, then decided to review one of his engineering updates from Earth. He found it, however, hard to concentrate, and his thoughts drifted off once more.

He thought of that alternate universe, where he and T'Pol were married, or at least together, one where he and her had a child. He thought about how Aisha's mother was now gone, and how they were going to get her home. Mostly, he thought about if he and T'Pol were to ever get married and have a baby. He'd never really considered him and T'Pol to be a good match, but if recent events were to show anything, he'd decided that he was willing to give it a try.

He was immersed in his thoughts when he heard a soft cry from the direction of Aisha's cradle. He got up hurriedly and looked down. The little girl had turned very pale, and was shaking. He picked her up, wrapped her in a blanket and hurriedly rushed out of the room and down towards Sickbay, worried for the health of his counterpart's child.


	6. Chapter Six

Trip was feeling slightly nervous as he walked towards Sickbay. It had been six hours since he had ran down these corridors, carrying a feverish and clammy baby girl. He had almost collided with two other crewmembers, such was his panic to get help for his young charge.

He'd gotten her to Phlox very quickly, and the good Doctor was trying his best to care for her right now, but there was something else bothering the engineer. The feeling that had overcome him as he had sprinted down the hallways, the way that everything else fell away from him as he ran to find help. It was similar to the way he'd felt while carrying Ah'Len's Xyrillian offspring. He shouldn't feel this way, Aisha was not his daughter, but something inside of him wanted so much for her to be.

Finding that he had reached his destination, he opened the doors to the infirmary and found T'Pol waiting on a nearby bed. She seemed to be okay, but Trip could see weariness and worry were taking its toll on her restraint. It still seemed strange to him that he could read her so easily, that he had a strange innate closeness to her. Shaking his head, he moved to go and speak with her.

"How's she doing?" he inquired, placing a hand on the bio-bed.

T'Pol looked up, and seemed to only notice him for the first time. "Dr. Phlox says that he has done all he can. If we do not send her back soon, she will die."

Trip's blue eyes relayed his shock. "Wha-what? It took weeks for me and Hoshi to succumb to it, why so quickly for her?"

"She is an infant, Commander. Her body is not strong enough to survive such trans-universal travel. However," she began, and Trip could see a faint light behind her eyes, "Commander Reed and I have finished our modifications much ahead of schedule. The beacon was launched into the ion storm, and we believe that it is functioning adequately."

"Hopefully, they'll come." replied Trip. He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it.

"Is there something else, Commander?" the Vulcan inquired, sensing his hesitation.

A look of discomfort came across his face, and it took him a moment to speak. "It's just... I don't know, T'Pol. I wish she could stay here with me, with us." At the last word, he stole a furtive glance to the woman seated beside him. "I mean, she's gotta to back to her universe, but the thought of 'what ifs' and 'if onlys' keep running through my head."

T'Pol was quiet a moment, and Trip looked to her once more. He could sense something stirring behind her eyes, shifting within her mind. And then it was gone.

"Commander- Trip," she allowed herself, "I do think about the things you have said, but rarely. Vulcans are not those who dwell on alternate choices. I-"

She was cut off by the beeping of the nearby communication unit. Walking over to it, she pressed the com. button.

Captain Archer's voice came floating through. "T'Pol, the emergency beacon is relaying a signal back to us. You and Trip better get up here."

Commander Tucker had already risen, and with a quick look back to where Aisha lay sleeping, the two made their way up to the bridge.

**Phew! Sorry about the wait, but hopefully this is enough to tide you over. One chapter left!**


End file.
